VANCOUVER — Martin Bonjour was showered with praise on Saturday for a courageous blocked shot that prevented the Colorado Rapids from scoring a late second-half equalizer.

Bonjour was showered with cheers from the 20,060 fans in attendance at BC Place Stadium on Wednesday night, as the unheralded defender scored his first goal of the 2012 season and his MLS career.

However, the euphoria wouldn’t last.

Bonjour’s goal in the 75th minute came after a cross from Davide Chiumiento resulted in a mad scramble inside the Red Bulls’ 18-yard box. Bonjour corralled the loose ball and fired it to the back of the net, out of the reach of New York goalkeeper Ryan Meara.

Chiumiento and Alain Rochat were credited with the assists.

Heath Pearce silenced the crowd in the 86th minute, his header equalizing the match at 1-1, which would turn out to be the final score.

“It’s one of those games where obviously when you lose a late goal it does feel like a defeat,” said Whitecaps head coach Martin Rennie.

“We didn’t take some chances, but then we managed to get ourselves a good goal. Martin scored a good goal and had an excellent night tonight. But the disappointing thing would be that we didn’t see the game out.

“It’s something that we have to learn from. I think there’s two big things for us to make improvements on tonight. One is how we break down a team that sits a little deeper and how we make sure we’re clinical when we have chances and the second thing would be when we’re ahead in a game with a short time to go, making sure we see the game out.”

The draw gives the Vancouver side a record of 7-3-5 and 26 points, which keeps them two ahead of the Seattle Sounders FC for third place in the MLS Western Conference standings.

The Whitecaps are also now 5-1-3 at BC Place in the 2012 campaign.

The Whitecaps, who concluded this three-game homestand against the Red Bulls, having previously knocked off the Houston Dynamo and Colorado Rapids, will now head out on the road for a five-game trip, beginning Saturday against the L.A. Galaxy.

The Red Bulls, finishing up a brief two-game road trip of their own, were without the services of world-renowned striker Thierry Henry and Mexican international Rafa Marquez.

Both designated players were unavailable for the New York side due to injury - Henry with a right calf strain and Marquez a right thigh contusion - and did not make the trip. That makes it two times in the last two years that both Henry and Marquez were not able to play against the Whitecaps in Vancouver.

Nonetheless, the Whitecaps and Red Bulls provided enough excitement, even if the big stars were absent - again.

Camilo Sanvezzo was inserted back into the Whitecaps starting 11, after sitting out the last two matches as an unused substitute.

He showed flashes of brilliance, however none of them were able to find their way to the back of the net.

Camilo had three shot attempts, but went scoreless of the night. A touch of finish on one of them, and the Whitecaps could have finished the night with a different result.

Camilo’s best opportunity came in the first half, as he accepted a ball from Chiumiento and went in alone on Meara.

However, just as Meara fell to the ground - perhaps showing some indecisiveness - Camilo chipped the ball just off the side of the net, which looked almost completely wide open.

His troubles continued in the second half.

Two misses, followed by an offside call, had the faithful chanting for Eric Hassli, another star who had also been confined to the bench since the rise of Darren Mattocks, who was unavailable due to suspension.

The fans eventually got their wish.

Hassli, who came into the game in the 64th minute, had his chances, but, like Camilo, was unable to capitalize.

His shot from just outside the box in the second half sailed just wide of the right post. But he was kept in neutral by a stingy Red Bulls defence.

Hassli was also given a yellow card for a late tackle.

Wednesday’s match also got off to a chippy start, despite the fact the two squad’s are situated on different sides of the continent.

New York received two yellow cards - one to Joel Lindpere and Dane Richards - five minutes apart in the opening half.

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